North Yorkshire Council Accused of Face-Saving

Campaigners claim a council’s determination to push ahead with unpopular home-to-school transport changes is about “saving face rather than saving money”.

But North Yorkshire Council bosses say reinstating the old policy would force the authority to use more money from its reserves to balance the books.

Council leaders also claim a return to using ‘catchment’ to decide school transport eligibility, rather than the new ‘nearest school’ system, would reintroduce inequalities.

Councillors will vote on a motion to return to the catchment system at an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday.

The meeting has been called by opposition leaders following concerns raised by parents over the policy change.

The School Transport Action Group (STAG) campaign group was formed by parents to oppose the new system.

The group claims that in private, most councillors accept that the new policy would not deliver the savings of up to £4.2m a year forecast by the council.

A STAG spokesperson added:

“It has been acknowledged that if every pupil took up the offer of free transport to their nearest school, it would cost more to deliver than if the catchment option was included, yet in public too many are unwilling to admit they’ve got this wrong.

“For those leading North Yorkshire Council, this has now become more about saving face than saving money.

“They want to plough on regardless, despite the legitimate concerns of local schools and thousands of parents.

“All we can hope now is that enough councillors are willing to put people over party and do what’s right for North Yorkshire’s children by voting to bring catchment back on May 21.”

Council officers held a seminar for all councillors on the policy change this week ahead of the vote.

A report prepared ahead of the meeting states that approving the motion would “reintroduce inequalities that were removed in the 2024 policy change” and “remove the savings potential arising from the 2024 policy and increase the need for use of reserves”.

The policy change has the support of the leadership of the Conservative and Independent group, which holds a slim majority on the council, although several Tory councillors have spoken out against the change.

Opposition to the policy has been led by Liberal Democrats and Green Party councillors.

It is understood both sides have been lobbying other councillors to support their stance ahead of the vote.

Council leader Carl Les said he did not want to comment on the “misinformation or spin” in the STAG statement.

He said it was a “very difficult decision” to change the policy, which was made in July last year, which was taken “in the face of having to make savings across all budgets in the council, to fall into line with the vast majority of our neighbouring authorities, and most throughout the country, in removing the discretionary element of home-to-school transport and only fulfilling our statutory duty for paying for transport to the nearest school”.

He added:

“This does not mean forcing children to attend their nearest school, only removing the burden on the taxpayer to pay for parental choice. Low-income families will be assisted with travel costs.

“It is being introduced over a period of time to allow for changes to happen gradually, not all at once.”

Cllr Les said completion of the first phase of the new policy introduction showed that “all children were being educated, no school was closing, no unsuitable routes were being used and well over 90 per cent of children had got their first preference”.

The senior councillor said if the opposition motion was passed, the proponents would need to explain the changes to “thousands of parents” who had already made their decision on schools, as well as explain “where they will find the £4m savings they are foregoing”.

Campaigners are planning a protest against the changes ahead of the meeting at County Hall in Northallerton.

A live feed will be in place to allow members of the public to watch the debate if they cannot fit into the public gallery.